


On A Train

by sullenhearts



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-12-22 16:07:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11970885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sullenhearts/pseuds/sullenhearts





	On A Train

The train was packed when it pulled into Huddersfield. The one before it had been cancelled and the platform was busy. There was a throng of people at the doors and Robert stepped on the train and turned, thinking Aaron was behind him, only there was a middle aged woman who frowned at his bright smile. Aaron was still on the platform; Robert saw the doors start to close and moved forward, reaching for Aaron’s hand to pull him up the steps.

“Sorry,” Aaron said, ducking under the arm of a man trying to put his case up on an already overcrowded rack. He was still holding Robert’s hand, so Robert kept hold of him and tucked the two of them into the corner. The train was heaving; people were trying to move down the carriages and a voice even came over the tannoy to tell people to move down. The seat reservations were off. Robert was glad they didn’t have far to go. 

He was also too hot bundled up in his winter coat. He let go of Aaron to unbutton his coat, and then even shrugged it off. He folded it carefully and held it over one arm.

The train set off and Aaron, not standing against anything like Robert was, slipped forward, his hand coming to rest on Robert’s chest.

“Sorry,” he said, and moved away again.

Robert didn’t want him to. 

They were dating again, but this time they were taking it slow, doing it properly. Robert had talked a lot in counselling about how they’d gone from 1 to a hundred in the blink of an eye, about how that had been how he’d done everything in life. He didn’t want to rush things, not this time. He didn’t want Aaron to be the sordid secret in the barn, he didn’t want them to just slot back into the way things were before. He wanted them to work on it from the start. Like they were born anew, like their relationship was fresh out of the box. 

Aaron agreed, and so they were dating. Living apart, not spending the night together, barely even kissing. They’d been for a couple of drinks in the pub, which ended with a chaste kiss outside The Mill when Robert walked Aaron home. Now they’d been on a bit of an ale trail to Huddersfield. It was Saturday and although it wasn’t even 6pm Robert felt tipsy. And happy. They’d talked, really talked, in each pub, while they drank samples of a hundred different beers from tiny dimpled glasses, sharing tastes of each other’s. They’d talked about Liv, about The Mill, about growing up. About the seaside and where they wanted to retire to. Aaron was pretty set on Blackpool, but he definitely wanted Chas to be next door. 

It was nice. Really lovely. Robert couldn’t stop smiling at him as the train rattled out of the town, past the gasworks.

“What?” Aaron asked, smiling back. “What you looking at me for?”

“Just like looking at you,” Robert said. 

Aaron rubbed his face bashfully. He wasn’t wearing his wedding ring anymore, but there was a fainter line on that finger, if you knew where to look. 

Robert touched the back of his hand gently. Aaron took his fingers and held them, dropping their arms down to by their sides. It wasn’t proper hand holding, just their fingers touching, but it was enough. For now, it was enough.


End file.
